He may not be the most intimidating presence in the pool, but opponents usually find Mitchell Kim the most annoying player to guard.
At 5-foot-4 and 110 pounds, Palisades High’s diminutive driver knows that to be successful in water polo he must put brains over brawn.
“I can’t wrestle with guys bigger than me — I have to be a gnat and disrupt what they’re trying to do,” he said.”That fits my play style because I like to get other guys the ball anyway. At times, I’m probably too unselfish.”
On a squad with as much firepower as the Dolphins possess, Kim isn’t called upon to score — they have Kian Lotfi, Zach Senator and Lucas Silva for that — yet by game’s end he has usually filled the stat sheet.
A prime example was Monday’s intersectional clash against Brentwood when Kim quietly finished with five goals, two assists, one steal and a team-high three drawn penalties.
Kim, who lives in Brentwood, went to Brentwood Science Magnet and Paul Revere Middle School before arriving at Pali High, where he also swims “all of the really difficult events no one else wants to swim… like the 400 individual medley.”
Kim is one of Palisades’ more talkative players, but that wasn’t always the case. In fact, not until the final game of the Conejo Classic in Ventura at the start of the season did he embrace the leadership role.
“It was the last game of the tournament, we didn’t have Zach or Kian, we were way behind and Coach [Adam Blakis] told me I needed to take charge,” Kim said. “We came back to win that game and since then I’ve been the vocal leader.”
Blakis calls Kim the “heart and soul” of the team.
“Mitchell simply took over that game,” Blakis recalled. “We were down 6-0 but you could see he wasn’t going to let us lose. He has intelligence, he’s a natural leader and more than anything else, he loves the sport. He’s always the first one in the water.”
Kim made the playoff roster as a freshman but didn’t play in the finals when Palisades won its first of three consecutive City championships. It was more of the same his sophomore year, but he played a vital role in last fall’s run to the title.
“When Luka [Kosanin] and Patrick [Huggins] and those guys graduated I realized this is our team now and we have to continue what they started,” Kim said. “That’s why winning [City] again this year is so important.”
Kim, who was a Cadet in the Junior Lifeguard program at Will Rogers State Beach, won’t be 18 until next September, so he can play for Westside Aquatics for two more seasons. He is in his fifth year playing water polo, having started when Westside startedits program. Before that, Kim was into martial arts, earning his first-degree blackbelt in karate at Dawn Barnes Karate Kids in Santa Monica.
Maintaining a 3.6 GPA despite a demanding course load that includes AP Statistics, Honors Economics, Honors Physics, Honors English and Physiology, Kim is hoping to attend USC — especially since both of his parents are Trojans.
When he’s not playing or practicing, Kim is giving swim lessons at Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center. He has two younger sisters, both aspiring swimmers: Amanda (an 8th-grader at Paul Revere) and Claire (a 4th-grader at Brentwood Science Magnet).
“I‘ll probably study public relations in college,” Kim said. “Definitely something with people.”
— Steve Galluzzo
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